Annotated Bibliography

Beretta, C., et al. (2013). "Quantifying food losses and the potential for reduction in
Switzerland." Waste Management 33(3): 764-773.
A key element in making our food systems more efficient is the reduction of food losses
across the entire food value chain. Nevertheless, food losses are often neglected. This
paper quantifies food losses in Switzerland at the various stages of the food value chain
(agricultural production, postharvest handling and trade, processing, food service
industry, retail, and households), identifies hotspots and analyses the reasons for losses.
Twenty-two food categories are modelled separately in a mass and energy flow analysis,
based on data from 31 companies within the food value chain, and from public
institutions, associations, and from the literature. The energy balance shows that 48% of
the total calories produced (edible crop yields at harvest time and animal products,
including slaughter waste) is lost across the whole food value chain. Half of these losses
would be avoidable given appropriate mitigation measures. Most avoidable food losses
occur at the household, processing, and agricultural production stage of the food value
chain. Households are responsible for almost half of the total avoidable losses (in terms
of calorific content). This will support the contrast of developed countries having a higher
amount of waste at the consumer end of the supply chain and developing countries
wastage deriving from the first half of the value chain.
Buzby, J. C. and J. Hyman (2012). "Total and per capita value of food loss in the United
States." Food Policy 37(5): 561-570.
As the worlds populations continues to grow and so does the need for food, we find
ourselves having to frame and understand the problems surrounding global food security.
Food waste occurring at the retail and consumer stages in the US provide an eye opening
insight into the scale of waste that occurs in developed countries. This paper breaks down
the types of wastages that occur into more than 200 different foods providing values in
calorific values and monetary value then compiling them all to give a total sum of food
loss across the entire nation and the sum of looses in the different types of food groups. In
2008, it was calculated that $165.6 billion in retail prices of food was lost at the retail and
consumer stages of the food value chain in the US. This paper is a very informative and
accessible source because it provides a quantitative baseline for communicating food loss
and wastages in relatable and common units. An increase in food production as a
response to the rising demand has put an increasing pressure on already diminished
resources like clean water and arable land. This paper highlights this and draws on the
significance of reducing waste in developed countries as a solution rather than increasing
production. Although the intended purpose of research is to find information on the facets
of the problems of post harvest food loss, and is therefor not focused on the solutions, it is
important to understand and include the role that natural resources play in providing a
scope of the problem.
Godfray, H. C., et al. (2010). "Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people." Science
327(5967): 812-818.

Continuing population and consumption growth will mean that the global demand
for food will increase for at least another 40 years. Growing competition for land, water,
and energy, in addition to the overexploitation of fisheries, will affect our ability to
produce food, as will the urgent requirement to reduce the impact of the food system on
the environment. This journal provides a strong reinforcement of the idea that there is a
global imbalance between developed and developing nations food wastages. The lack of
infrastructure and technologies is highlighted as one of the main factors contributing to
food loss in developing countries, providing examples like For example, in India, it is
estimated that 35 to 40% of fresh produce is lost because neither wholesale nor retail
outlets have cold storage (16). This article terms this loss phenomenon the yield gap
and provides a detailed analysis of three different regions and their yield gaps. Developed
nations are suggested to have such high waste levels at the retail/consumer stage because
of a communal psyche that has become engrained in affluent, consumer cultures. These
themes are explored in greater detail and related to a current global context and put in
perspective by providing solutions. For the purpose of this research the solutions were
acknowledged but not taken into account as the project focuses on presenting a
descriptive and comprehensive outline of the problem.

Hodges, R. J., et al. (2010). "Postharvest losses and waste in developed and less developed
countries: opportunities to improve resource use." The Journal of Agricultural Science 149(S1):
37-45.
This paper compares and contrasts PHLs in developing and developed countries
and identifies the key contributing factors and how the differ to create a global
imbalance. This journal reinforces the imbalance between food waste occurrences in the
food value chain across developed and developing nations. It reinforces the idea that each
nation must be treated individually and that the same problems are not identical across
the same types of countries. This paper does not provide any new or contrasting evidence
to support or discredit my argument. However, it does provide an honest analysis of the
data collection methods used to estimate PHLs stating that Estimating PHLs is difficult,
and is not very reliable. Actually measuring what has been lost implies that it is known
what was there at the outset and this is usually not the case. Two main approaches have
been taken, either to actually measure what has been lost or to use questionnaires to elicit
subjective loss estimates from those who have experienced them. Acknowledging these
errors in calculation is important because it identifies where the data may be selective and
suggest how we can overcome these inconclusive results. For example in the USA there
have been no studies done that estimate the total PHLs on-farm or during processing. In
addition to this there are few peer-reviewed food waste studies in the USA. It is therefore
important to state and acknowledge that there are gaps in our knowledge.
Kummu, M., et al. (2012). "Lost food, wasted resources: global food supply chain losses and
their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use." Sci Total Environ 438: 477-489.
In this paper an estimate is given for global food supply losses due to lost and wasted
food crops, and the resources used to produce them. Publically available global databases
were used to conduct the study at the national level. It is suggested that around one

quarter of the produced food supply (614 kcal/cap/day) is lost within the food supply
chain. The production of these lost and wasted food crops accounts for 24% of total
freshwater resources used in food crop production (27 m(3)/cap/yr), 23% of total global
cropland area (31 x 10(-3)ha/cap/yr), and 23% of total global fertiliser use (4.3
kg/cap/yr). The per capita use of resources for food losses is largest in North Africa &
West-Central Asia (freshwater and cropland) and North America & Oceania (fertilisers).
The smallest per capita use of resources for food losses is found in Sub-Saharan Africa
(freshwater and fertilisers) and in Industrialised Asia (cropland). Relative to total food
production, the smallest food supply and resource losses occur in South & Southeast
Asia. If the lowest loss and waste percentages achieved in any region in each step of the
FSC could be reached globally, food supply losses could be halved. By doing this, there
would be enough food for approximately one billion extra people. Reducing the food
losses and waste would thus be an important step towards increased food security, and
would also increase the efficiency of resource use in food production. This source
provides an accurate and important illustration of the strain being put on natural resources
to generate food waste. As my research is furthered and the scope of the problem is
narrowed to include on the crucial influencing factors on post harvest losses it has
become apparent that the burden being placed on natural resources by increased food
demand plays a vital role in illustrating the entirety of the issue.
Parfitt, J., et al. (2010). "Food waste within food supply chains: quantification and potential for
change to 2050." Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 365(1554): 3065-3081.
Food waste in the global food supply chain is reviewed in relation to the prospects for
feeding a population of nine billion by 2050. Different definitions of food waste with
respect to the complexities of food supply chains (FSCs)are discussed. An international
literature review found a dearth of data on food waste and estimates varied widely; those
for post-harvest losses of grain in developing countries might be overestimated. As much
of the post-harvest loss data for developing countries was collected over 30 years ago,
current global losses cannot be quantified. A significant gap exists in the understanding
of the food waste implications of the rapid development of 'BRIC' economies. The
limited data suggest that losses are much higher at the immediate post-harvest stages in
developing countries and higher for perishable foods across industrialized and developing
economies alike. For affluent economies, post-consumer food waste accounts for the
greatest overall losses. To supplement the fragmentary picture and to gain a forward
view, interviews were conducted with international FSC experts. The analyses
highlighted the scale of the problem, the scope for improved system efficiencies and the
challenges of affecting behavioural change to reduce post-consumer waste in affluent
populations.
Schneider, F. (2013). "The evolution of food donation with respect to waste prevention." Waste
Manag 33(3): 755-763.
The donation of food which is still edible can be seen as a specific application of urban
mining as food is recovered for its original purpose - human intake. There are several
projects implemented worldwide but due to a lack of data, scientific literature about the
topic is rare. This paper summarises briefly the evolution of food donation activities and
gives information on the differences and similarities of current organisations distributing

food to people in need as well as the political, legal, social and logistical barriers and
incentives which occur with respect to this topic. A concept for a food donation network
is presented and impact on ecology, economy and society is discussed.
Stathers, T., et al. (2013). "Postharvest agriculture in changing climates: its importance to
African smallholder farmers." Food Security 5(3): 361-392.
This study describes typical grain postharvest systems in east and southern Africa
and discusses the likely impacts of different climate change trends on postharvest
activities, assets and human well-being outcomes. Adaptation oppor- tunities for
creating more climate resilient postharvest agri- cultural systems and associated
livelihoods are identified. Many of these adaptation opportunities are already
known and understood by postharvest service providers, highlight- ing the
significant challenge of getting postharvest knowl- edge into use at a larger scale.
A discussion is presented on the factors influencing attempts to strengthen the
adaptive capacity of postharvest systems, such as its invisibility, its omission from
training curricula, innovation system chal- lenges, the policy bias towards preharvest agricultural spending, limited understanding of gender and diversity
aspects of postharvest roles, and the dominance of maize in the food system. The
study recognises the crucial role of postharvest agriculture in helping
communities adapt and cope with change. . It is based on an extensive review by
the authors who draw on their experience of postharvest agriculture and
adaptation to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the relevant
literature. This source, focused on developing nations, draws away from the
economic and social factors that contribute to PHLs and focuses on the issue of
uncontrollable environmental factors that must be accounted for in the Post
Harvest value chain. The paper illustrates how developing countries, especially
those in Sub Saharan Africa, are dependent on the climate. For example, in
Tanzania 46 % of gross domestic prod- uct and 44 % of all exports come from
agriculture, most of which is rain-fed and 76 % of the population live in rural
areas (WDR 2007). This will be a good reference in supporting the point that
PHLs in developing countries have been caused by a lack of technologies and
preventative methods that are apparent in keeping food wastages down in
developed nations.
Greer, T. V. (1990). "Decreasing Post-Harvest Food Loss in the Third World." Journal of
International Food & Agribusiness Marketing 2(2): 7-21.
Although food production has increased, shortages are still predominant in developing
countries. Possibly the largest overall loss in the post harvest value chain in developing
nations occurs in the storage stage. This article looks at the problems surrounding food
storage, specifically grains and cereals in developing nations and why continues to be
such a large wastage. The source identifies different strains of genetically modified crops
that have produced higher yields but have had a much higher percentage of loss. The
article illustrates how the Green Revolution has accelerated crop production without first
updating the infrastructure and storage systems to hold it. This, ironically, creates a larger
loss of food and energy as the amount of diminishing resources used outweighs the
amount of energy gained from the food. The paper is useful in compiling an argument

because it reinforces the point of a global imbalance in technologies and resources

causing large amounts of food loss. It analyses, in depth, the problems surrounding food
storage in developing countries covering everything from farmers mentalities to moisture
levels that cause grain decomposition. A useful and well cited source that will be
important in illustrating the problem. The only limitations however are that the paper is
slightly outdated being nearly twenty five years old. Although this is the case other
studies have shown that the progress in developing nations, especially Africa, has not
drastically improved over the past half century. Therefor, we can assume that this source
is still relevant in todays world.
Eriksson, M., et al. (2012). "Food losses in six Swedish retail stores: Wastage of fruit and
vegetables in relation to quantities delivered." Resources, Conservation and Recycling 68: 14-20.
To prevent retail food wastage, better understanding of waste patterns is
necessary. Flows of fruit and vegetables at six Swedish retail stores were analysed
in this study, both by analysing recorded data and by performing physical
measurements. Total wasted fresh fruits and vegetables were 4.3% of delivered
quantity. The largest category was pre-store waste (goods rejected at delivery;
3.01%), followed by recorded in-store waste (0.99%) and unrecorded in-store
waste (0.3%). A positive correlation between unrecorded in-store waste and total
waste was found, indicating that a thorough recording of waste could be an
effective way to reduce retail waste of fresh fruits and vegetables. The praxis
allowing large amounts of reclamations of delivered goods was recognised as the
main reason for waste, since pre-store waste contributed with the majority of the
waste flow. Initiatives to reduce fresh fruit and vegetable waste in the studied
retail chain thus need to focus on the pre-store waste to be efficient. This source in
conjunction with the first source (Beretta), will provide an in depth analysis of the
Scandinavian region and show the patterns of food waste in the post harvest value
chain in developed nations. This will provide a wholesome argument that the in
developed countries food wastage occurs primarily in the retail and consumer
stages.